A young father who claimed to have no memory of brutally shaking his five-week-old daughter “like a ragdoll” has been convicted of her murder.
Thomas Holford had smoked up to seven cannabis joints in the hours leading up to newborn Everleigh Stroud being subjected to what was described by a pathologist as “one episode of violence escalating in severity”.
Jurors at Canterbury Crown Court heard the long-term addict had even sent a text to his dealer in the hope of scrounging more weed, describing his evening looking after the tot on his own as one that was “going to be f***ing stressful”.
Everleigh had been born by forceps delivery on March 13, 2021 but was otherwise healthy when she suffered a catastrophic brain injury, bruising to her mouth and multiple fractures at the first-time father’s hands.
Those to her ribs resulted from severe gripping and squeezing, and breaks to the tibia were caused when her legs either flailed with the shaking motion or were twisted and pulled.
Doctors also found she had sustained three anal tears from forceful and deliberate penetration.
The violent assault on April 21, 2021, left Everleigh blind, being fed through a nasal tube and in a vegetative state for more than a year before she died in hospital, aged 14 months, on May 27, 2022.
The court heard Holford had inflicted the injuries to his daughter while caring for her at the family home in Wallwood Road, Ramsgate, after her teen mum Casey Stroud decided to spend the night at a friend’s house.
It was on her return the following morning on what was her 17th birthday that Casey found Holford asleep and their daughter seriously unwell.
In a heartbreaking 999 call Everleigh was described to the emergency operator as “only just” breathing, barely conscious, cold to touch and “in agony”.
As mum and baby were rushed by paramedics to Margate’s QEQM Hospital, Holford, then aged 20, remained at the property, telling police how he had fed the baby in the night and heard her “whimper”.
While he gave his account, he could be seen on an officer’s body-worn camera to be relaxed, laughing and even chatting about games to download on his phone.
He also exchanged a number of messages with Casey about their daughter’s condition, and told the teenager before he had even been arrested that he “understood” if she did not want him in her life any more.
Although he was to later admit a charge of manslaughter, the now 25-year-old denied murder on the basis he had not intended to kill Everleigh or cause her really serious harm.
He also denied an offence of assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) in relation to the anal tears.
Giving evidence at his three-week trial, he told the jury that after settling his daughter down and going to sleep himself, his next memory was waking to a “very upset” Casey and “absolute carnage”.
His lack of recollection as to how she suffered her injuries from what the prosecution described as excessive and severe shaking was, he added, “a sort of blank spot”.
He also said that the idea he had murderous intent that night was “against everything that I’m about”.
However, prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC accused him of faking his memory loss because he knew he had hurt his daughter, had intended to cause her really serious harm, and “did not want to answer questions about it”.
Because there was no account from Holford about the events that led to the tot becoming so poorly, the prosecution advanced potential scenarios to the court, all of which he agreed were possible.
One was that he assaulted the baby after she had interrupted a late-night gaming session on his computer.
It was also suggested that having inflicted the anal injury and caused severe pain, he then gripped or clamped her mouth to stop her crying.
His shaking of her “like a ragdoll”, said Ms Marshall, was his reaction to his daughter then becoming “frantic and a bit mad” – words Holford had himself used when describing her behaviour to police.
The court also heard that the signs of such a profound brain injury – inconsolable crying followed by excessive quietness, vacant appearance, intermittent whimpering and reduced level of alertness – would have been “very obvious” to anyone responsible for her care.
But although Holford, from Danbury in Essex, agreed that “something had set him off” that night, he maintained throughout his evidence that he could not remember the crucial incident.
The jury of seven men and five women found him unanimously guilty of murder and ABH after deliberating for more than 20 hours.
At the time of the violent assault, Holford, Casey and Everleigh were living with Casey’s parents, Kelly and Lewis Stroud.
The young couple shared a bedroom described as “very untidy and crammed”, and where their baby slept in a Moses basket.
On a desk next to a bottle of her milk police found herbal cannabis, a grinder and joint butts.
Although subsequent tests on Holford’s urine sample indicated a high level of the cannabis breakdown product known as THC, the jury was told it did not provide evidence on whether he had been under the influence of the class B drug at the relevant time.
But he himself readily admitted in court to having used drugs from the age of 15, with cannabis a “constant” in his life that made him “unreliable and agitated” as a father.
“I would be quite snappy,” he added. “It’s not conducive to staying calm and stable.”
Following her admission to hospital, Everleigh was fostered up until her death.
But the jury heard that in spite of her very complex needs throughout her short life, by early 2022 her hospital appointments were less frequent and the tot more alert.
She had started to attend local activity groups such as baby massage, and her first birthday was marked by a visit to a farm where she was described by her foster carer as being able to “smell, hear and touch” the animals.
However, it was within days of reaching that milestone that her condition rapidly deteriorated and, after being admitted to intensive care, the decision was eventually made to withdraw life support.
Cause of death was later given as old and severe brain injury in-keeping with non-accidental, abusive trauma.
When first interviewed by police in April 2021, an emotional Holford, who was later diagnosed with ADHD, stated that he had not and would not hurt his daughter.
After being re-arrested in June 2022 following Everleigh’s death, he gave a “No comment” interview.
He was eventually charged last year, pleading guilty to manslaughter at a pre-trial hearing in November.
Holford, who has no previous convictions or cautions, showed no reaction to the verdicts and will be sentenced by trial judge Mr Justice Fordham tomorrow (Friday).
